1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of electrical distribution and dispensing and more particularly to an apparatus and method for dispensing electrical power to recharge electric and hybrid vehicles having rechargeable batteries.
2. Description of the Problem and the Prior Art
As electric and hybrid vehicles become more and more common, methods of dispensing electricity to recharge onboard batteries is also becoming very important. In the near future, many vehicles will be able to simply “plug in” to the electric power grid to recharge their batteries. It will be necessary to have ways of controlling access to, and accounting for as well as charging fees for the dispensing of electric power. While it is certainly possible to charge a vehicle at an owner's residence, this in many cases will be inconvenient. For example, if an owner wishes to take a road trip in an electric vehicle, along the way, he or she may need to recharge batteries. In an apartment complex, different residents may want to charge their vehicles. Some cars are hybrid having both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine. Recharging can take place from the internal combustion engine and from waste energy recovered from braking; however, this may be more expensive than simply buying electricity at a public or private “service station”. It would be advantageous to have an apparatus and method for distributing electricity, keeping track of who is buying it, charging them for the service by perhaps billing a credit card, or identifying particular users of a group charging station such as an apartment complex by some method of identification, so that users can be individually billed.
Numerous devices exist in the prior art for preventing physical access to a source of electricity. Laff in U.S. Pat. No. 3,524,029 teaches an electrical outlet with a lock and key. Sherman in U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,658 teaches a security outlet having a lock. Ellis, Jr. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,580 teaches a coin operated battery charge that operates similar to a parking meter. Wilkinson in U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,565 teaches a combination parking meter and electric energy dispensing device containing a microprocessor. Keizer et al. Teach a security power interrupt device with a microcontroller and keypad, while Schelberg Jr. et al. teach a power telecommunications access vending machine that provides both telecommunications access for a computer and power for it. Kaji et al. teach a charging server with account management, while Woodnorth in US application 2003/0034757 teaches providing a battery device to a user such as a cellular telephone and then automatically charging for the service. Numerous other references teach the use of keypads, biometrics and/or RFID chips for identification.
It would be advantageous to have an apparatus and method for recharging batteries for electric cars using 110V, 220V or any standard voltage that could operate in the fashion of a public or private service station or as a small private dispensing system.